Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees
The plight of immigrants can only be told through experience not statistics mainly because statistics do not convey the predicament that they face in real life. Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Bean Trees, revolves around a young woman named Taylor who has never been a victim of injustice because she’s lived in rural Kentucky her whole life and once she leaves her county, she is exposed to the harsh reality beyond the boundaries. She began her journey in Pittman County where not much occurs and headed west to nowhere in particular, simply savoring her freedom. When a Cherokee woman gives her a baby, Taylor begins to discover more about the world and the injustices that other people face. She eventually settles down in Tucson, Arizona which is
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Estevan and Esperanza are two immigrants within the novel who had managed to escape their harsh homeland, leaving almost everything behind them in the past, and came to the United States in hope for a better life. The Guatemalan government was using oppression against their civilians for their own purposes and creating conflict within their own country at the time. Estevan had explained to Taylor, “In Guatemala, you are careful. If you want to change something you can find yourself dead” (Kingsolver 183). The situation in Guatemala had been very barbarous at the time which led to Estevan and Esperanza fleeing the country to the United States. Their daughter, Ismene, was taken away from them by the oppressive government when they had refused to give the names of union members. “[Ismene] was taken in a raid on their neighborhood in which Esperanza’s brother and two friends were killed” (Kingsolver 183). Estevan and Esperanza had made the decision to give up their daughter to protect their fellow union members from the government. The couple had risked nearly everything to do what’s right and when they arrived at the United States, they were labelled ‘illegal’ and needed to hide from the U.S. government as well. When you were an illegal immigrant at the time of this novel, you were only allowed to stay in the U.S. if your life was being threatened and you had evidence. Estevan
Estevan and Esperanza are two immigrants within the novel who had managed to escape their harsh homeland, leaving almost everything behind them in the past, and came to the United States in hope for a better life. The Guatemalan government was using oppression against their civilians for their own purposes and creating conflict within their own country at the time. Estevan had explained to Taylor, “In Guatemala, you are careful. If you want to change something you can find yourself dead” (Kingsolver 183). The situation in Guatemala had been very barbarous at the time which led to Estevan and Esperanza fleeing the country to the United States. Their daughter, Ismene, was taken away from them by the oppressive government when they had refused to give the names of union members. “[Ismene] was taken in a raid on their neighborhood in which Esperanza’s brother and two friends were killed” (Kingsolver 183). Estevan and Esperanza had made the decision to give up their daughter to protect their fellow union members from the government. The couple had risked nearly everything to do what’s right and when they arrived at the United States, they were labelled ‘illegal’ and needed to hide from the U.S. government as well. When you were an illegal immigrant at the time of this novel, you were only allowed to stay in the U.S. if your life was being threatened and you had evidence. Estevan